Most web resources are intended for use by desktop and laptop personal computers (PCs). This means that they are often unsuitable for use by mobile communication devices. Web resources, typically web sites and web pages, may include script, graphics, images, animations, video data, audio data, layouts etc. that are not supported by a mobile communication device. For example, a web site may include objects encoded using Java® or Adobe® Flash script, but a mobile communication device may not have the correct software to use such objects. Similarly, an image on a web site may be too large to be displayed on a mobile communication device.
In light of this, web resources specifically encoded for use by mobile communication devices are sometimes provided. Usually, web resources specifically encoded for use by mobile communication devices are based on web resources intended for use by PCs. For example, an organisation may have two web sites, one for use by PCs and the other specifically encoded for use by mobile communication devices. There is therefore duplication of effort in providing the same content for use by both PCs and mobile communication devices. For this reason, only large and well resourced organisations or those with a particular reason to target mobile communication devices tend to provide web resources specifically encoded for use by mobile communication devices. There is therefore a need to make it easier to provide web resources suitable for use by mobile communication devices.
In order to address this need, mobile network operators convert web resources intended for use by PCs to be suitable for use by mobile communication devices. This conversion is known as transcoding. When the user of a mobile communication device seeks to access a given web resource via the mobile communication network, instead of the mobile communication device being provided with the web resource itself, it is provided with a transcoded version of the web resource.
In more detail, the mobile communication device may send a request for a web resource, which request includes an internet domain name, e.g. “www.bobspizzashop.com”. The mobile network retrieves the web resource from the web server using the internet domain name (or, more specifically, an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the server at which the web resource is located, which IP address can be retrieved from the Domain Name System (DNS) of the internet using the internet domain name). However, instead of delivering the web resource straight to the mobile communication device, the mobile communication network first transcodes the web resource.
Typically, the transcoding involves identifying the type of mobile communication device that made the request and adapting the web resource to be suitable for that device. For example, if the web resource is encoded using script that is not supported by the type of mobile communication device, the web resource may be converted to script that is supported by the type of mobile communication device. Similarly, an image included in the web resource may be resized to suit the limitations of the display of the mobile communication device.
The transcoding of web resources by mobile communication networks has some difficulties. In particular, the transcoding is done without the permission and often without the knowledge of the owners of the web resources. A web resource may also be transcoded differently by different mobile communication networks. So, even when the owner is aware that transcoding may take place, it can be difficult for them to take account of how a web resource might be transcoded when they first create the web resource. Accordingly, the owners of web resources cannot control user experience of their web resources.
There also exists a difficulty even when an organisation has provided web resources specifically encoded for use by mobile communication devices, e.g. a mobile version of a web site, in that it may prove difficult for a user to locate them. In particular, there is no standard format of internet domain name for mobile versions of web sites. If a web site designed for PCs hosted at an IP address associated with the internet domain name “bobspizzashop.com”, a mobile version of the web site might be hosted at an IP address associated with the internet domain name “bobspizzashop.mobile.com”, “mobile.bobsspizzashop.com”, “m.bobspizzashop.com” or any other internet domain name. This is confusing for the user and can mean that mobile versions of web sites are not delivered to mobile communication devices as extensively and reliably as desired.
The present invention seeks to overcome these problems.